In less than 12 months London-based Cassyette has well and truly made her mark on the rock music scene. Not only did she make her debut at Download Festival, with both her own live set at the pilot festival in 2021 and also performing with Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes for their headline set on their track Off With His Head, which she features on, but she also supported them on tour, plus had a mega slot supporting Willow at her special London show at the end of 2021, oh AND she’s has just completed her first UK tour, with many shows sold out. This is just the beginning for Cassyette…
Tell us, what women within in the industry inspire you?
So many people! I’ve got a lot of mates who are artists or in bands as well, so I guess there’s loads. One of my managers is absolutely amazing Becks (Rebecca Dixon). She basically started at my management company, I think it was like four years ago or something, and she’s just climbed up and up and up and she’s literally my right arm. So, I would say she does massively, probably the most out of everyone actually. But it’s great and really nice to like work with somebody like that because it really gives you the motivation to, you know, be better.
And how about women that inspire you in general?
Oh my god, there’s literally so many. I guess, I’d say the women in my family to be honest…they’re all kind of like proper ball busters and have really serious jobs. My grandma’s accomplished so much in her life as has my mom, so I guess like them, I’ve always admired that really amazing work ethic. And I think that to me is really inspiring. I feel like I’m a genuine person because of them too and it’s nice to like, have a benchmark.
There’s honestly so many women. Oh my god, I can’t even I can’t even think.
Tell us your current top 3 favourite female artists and favourite tracks of theirs.
I would say Hayley Williams has always been great. I love Kim Petras, I think she is amazing. She’s just a really fucking great musician and she seems like she’s got her head screwed on and also does it for all the right reasons. She also seems like she would be fun to hang out with…I hope that happens one day. And then probably Billie Eilish. She’s been through a lot very young, and I think she’s amazing. She has something really different and unique about her. So, there’s my choices.
I love Icy by Kim Petras. My favourite Billie Eilish song is probably bellyache which is off the EP. I really liked that song and then I can’t even choose one of Hayley because I like so many but I don’t know maybe Decode.
How would you describe your experience as a woman in the music industry?
Most of the time, mostly positive… but you do just get those moments and I think that happens like in any industry. Talking to friends of mine who all have different types of jobs and like my mom and my grandma and people like that, they’ve really been through it in different ways.
I personally don’t want to fuck with anyone who is bullshit or misogynistic, and I feel like I’m quite a good judge of character, so I recognise that quite quickly. I’m lucky to have a good team around me of really nice, solid people. But don’t get me wrong, it’s taken a long time to get such a good team of people. I’ve had to go through some shitty people, and I’ve had to learn lessons. You still come into contact every now and again with people that make you feel shit and I have experienced shitty moments with guys. To be honest, quite a lot.
I just always have my wits about me and I just try and shut down anything that makes me feel uncomfortable, or if someone’s just being like, sexist and outright sexist. I had a recent situation recently where someone was just acting like a dick towards me and the situation made me feel really bad and I just said you know what? That’s it. They’ve pissed me off, I’m gonna cut it out. I think you have to look out for yourself and be really aware but there are ultimately a lot of good people and I think that they can be a dime a dozen.
In general, I think it’s easier for men to be taken seriously, That’s one thing that I feel like as a women, you have to definitely fight for much more than men do. And, you know, prove yourself more.
Do you feel like you’ve kind of had to toughen up as well, in that sense to, make your stand?
For sure. I try not to even get into that place where I’m being defensive or feel like I have to actually just shut things down. I always remind myself of why I’m doing what I’m doing and it’s because I enjoy it and it’s the sickest fucking thing to be able to do something that I love so much and do it as a career. I do think a lot of people don’t enjoy the journey. They just want to get to some destination and nothing’s ever good enough but it’s like, you have to appreciate every single thing in this career because you just you never know. I just make sure I’m always having a good time with it. Yeah, there are times that it can be a bit difficult and it can be stressful but that’s only like a small part of what it is.
In your opinion, what do you think needs to be done in the music industry to make it better for women?
I think to be honest with social media, now more than ever artists have a chance to grow a project themselves and really have full creative freedom for instance, my mate Abby Roberts, she’s a makeup artist and she’s fucking killing it on TikTok and she just put out a single and it is absolutely killing too. She doesn’t need anyone to tell her what to do.
When you have a great team around you then the cogs start turning and people can project you up further and you can build together, but I think because you can now do more independently, you can grow loads first and then form a team of like wicked people around you. I feel if you approach it like that it’s much less risky and I think that’s really cool. I think that it should be more of a blueprint to follow as I feel like when I started doing music years ago and did different projects, my experiences were so different.
People need to just trust themselves and make their own content and make it because they enjoy it. Build your thing because once you’ve made something great, everyone wants a piece of it and then you get to choose from the bunch of people and decide who you want to work with.
“…just be yourself and be unapologetic about it. And do what makes you happy and fuck anyone who makes you feel bad.”
What advice would you give to aspiring female artists?
Be as DIY as as possible, because then you’re controlling everything, and you if you put the work in, you know you get out what you put.
Any inspiring words to women in general?
I guess it’s like…just be yourself and be unapologetic about it. And do what makes you happy and fuck anyone who makes you feel bad. You live once so make the most of it and don’t hang around with shitty people and actually people you like.
What track of yours would you recommend to make us feel empowered when listening to it?
Oh, that’s a really good question. Probably Prison Purse. There’s a verse literally about owning your own body and it’s kind of a little bit revengeful as well. Prison Purse is fucking badass and it’s also like, such a good song to turn up really loud when you’re really angry. I love that.
Listen to Prison Purse:
